WATCH: Auburn avoids upset after Missouri's poor clock management

The bottom-dwelling Missouri Tigers (8-10, 2-4) gave No. 1 Auburn (18-1, 7-0) a run for its money just one day after the Tigers were ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll for the first time in program history; however, thanks to some poor clock management, Missouri was unable to even get a final shot off and fell to Auburn by a 55-54 final.

K.D. Johnson led all Auburn scorers with 17 points on 6-of-13 from the field, coupled with three steals, one assist and two rebounds, and after a quiet first half, Johnson dialed it up when it mattered most. He poured in five straight in the final 90 seconds of the game, allowing Auburn to win its first game as the No. 1 team in the nation.

Walker Kessler also contributed quite a bit in the win, putting up 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Tigers. Missouri, on the other hand, was paced by Javon Pickett, who had 17 points on 6-of-10 from the field, six rebounds and two steals, while Jaron Coleman added 10 points and three rebounds. Perhaps Missouri’s biggest contributor — and arguably the reason why the Tigers kept it so close with Auburn — was forward Kobe Brown, who scored eight points but pulled down a heaping 11 rebounds, along with three assists and two steals.

No. 1 @AuburnMBB SURVIVES an upset bid from unranked Mizzou 😱@SECNetwork pic.twitter.com/Lupu2O7Nqr

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 26, 2022

Mizzou trailed 55-51 with under a minute left in the contest, and Pickett nailed a clutch three-point shot to bring the Tigers within one of Auburn. Auburn then gained possession with 35.4 left on the clock and 30 seconds on the shot clock, but Missouri opted not to foul.

“It was little over five seconds on the clock, let’s get the rebound and push the ball up the floor. Let’s get stops and then depending on who got the ball whether we foul — we didn’t want to foul Wendell (Green Jr.),” Missouri head coach Cuonzo Martin said after the game, explaining his decision not to foul with just five seconds separating the game and shot clock.

Auburn ran down the entire shot clock until Johnson heaved up a floater that was no good, but Missouri was unable to grab the rebound.

With a hair under four seconds left, Kessler tipped the rebound and Missouri seemed to finally gain possession with 1.1 seconds left on the clock, but the Tigers were unable to hang on. The ball eventually was tipped out of bounds as time expired, and the Tigers were unable to get a final shot off.